- Jul 25, 2006
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Avs will also win the next 6 Stanley cups and the All Star game format will be changed to Colorado vs the league...
At least, that's what you would believe from some posters here.
But not jokingly
PIT was brought up as an example of keeping your best players to go for it as long as you can. The difference with PIT is that Crosby and Malkin are Cs. Mikko is a W and his next contract will be a LOT of money to be taken by a winger.
The Avs did it but Nate was on a really cheap contract at the time. The Oilers and Toronto haven't won yet with that contract structure. CHI's success was prior to Toews' and Kane's big contracts. BOS didn't win last year. WAS might be the exception.You can build around a high end C and high end winger long term too.
That's the new model with wingers playing a bigger scoring role than they used to. Then you have the option to either load up a top line when you need it or spread out the depth.
The Avs have done it with Nate and Mikko. The Oilers have done it with McDavid and Draisaitl, though Draisaitl plays center a lot now. Toronto will do it with Matthews and Marner.
The Hawks built around Toews and Kane for a long time. Tampa did it with Stamkos and Kucherov and are still in the mix at 33 and 30 years old.
Washington built around Ovi and Backstrom and won the Cup when they were 33 and 30.
Boston had a dominant regular season with a 37 year old Bergeron and a 34 year old Marchand.
Players with lesser athleticism and skill can fall off from good to bad in their 30's, but if you have guys that were once top 5-10 players in the world, their fall off can just be from elite to great in their 30's, and still give you a chance to win with a smart move or two to build around them.
Don't listed to Pierce. He is a dreamer. He used to say that Bosser and Laine will be better then Rantanen. He is dreaming.Avs will be relegated to the AHL after this season. Calder Cup window opening!
I see Mikko's new contract most likely closing it unless CMac can find some great extra-value contracts in other players.
That would certainly be a good place to start...unfortunately....Maybe we should, you know, try drafting a few people who can contribute with ELCs?
The Avs did it but Nate was on a really cheap contract at the time. The Oilers and Toronto haven't won yet with that contract structure. CHI's success was prior to Toews' and Kane's big contracts. BOS didn't win last year. WAS might be the exception.
What I am saying is it is very difficult for a team to win the SC when allocating that much money to a winger unless your Cs and Ds are on fairly cheap contracts. I never saw Mack's contract closing our window. I see Mikko's new contract most likely closing it unless CMac can find some great extra-value contracts in other players.
You can build around a high end C and high end winger long term too.
That's the new model with wingers playing a bigger scoring role than they used to. Then you have the option to either load up a top line when you need it or spread out the depth.
The Avs have done it with Nate and Mikko. The Oilers have done it with McDavid and Draisaitl, though Draisaitl plays center a lot now. Toronto will do it with Matthews and Marner.
The Hawks built around Toews and Kane for a long time. Tampa did it with Stamkos and Kucherov and are still in the mix at 33 and 30 years old.
Washington built around Ovi and Backstrom and won the Cup when they were 33 and 30.
Boston had a dominant regular season with a 37 year old Bergeron and a 34 year old Marchand.
Players with lesser athleticism and skill can fall off from good to bad in their 30's, but if you have guys that were once top 5-10 players in the world, their fall off can just be from elite to great in their 30's, and still give you a chance to win with a smart move or two to build around them.
I do believe the Avs are in a good position this year assuming the injury bug doesn't hit as bad as last season. However this year Mikko will still be on the same contract. I was talking about when he gets his new 12-13M contract. Yes the big increase in cap will be coming at the same time but the other teams will benefit from that as well.True, but we can probably agree the Avs are in a good position next year with Nate's new contract to possibly win if they don't have an injury season from hell and RyJo works out well at 2C.
Boston also could have won last year. Their regular season was incredibly dominant. Oilers and Leafs still have multiple years to try and win and prove this model is good too.
Chicago had a tougher time, but they also won their division, and finished 3rd overall two years into Toews and Kane's big deals, but lost to the Preds who went to the finals.
The Avs are also in a much better situation than past teams were, in the sense that the cap is about to take some big jumps. They had to build their current team under a multi year flat cap. Which means some of the long term deals they signed will overlap with a higher cap. Those past teams didn't benefit from this.
This will make salaries like Nate and Cale's, as well as future contracts like Mikko and Bo's a smaller percentage of the cap.
Definitely know you weren't one to think the window would close with Nate. I think we view this topic somewhat similarly, but may just differ on the C/W thing.
But regarding the cheap C's and D's, I think that actually is part of their team building model, and why they can have success with this.
They rotate certain positions with stop gaps that some teams pay a high AAV for, and are really good at timing it so their trade value and AAV is a bargain, and they're the most motivated, so they get the best out of them in the 2 years or so they have them.
They do this with 2C (Kadri, RyJo, Colton?), 1G (Grubauer, Kuemper, Georgiev), 2W (Saad, Burakvosky, Drouin), and usually a top 4D (Toews?).
Girard's $5M and Bo's bridge is part of that as well.
As long as their pro scouts and front office can identify good players that fit the team well, this strategy allows them to spend more on their stars, so they get elite talent enough depth to compete most years.
I do believe the Avs are in a good position this year assuming the injury bug doesn't hit as bad as last season. However this year Mikko will still be on the same contract. I was talking about when he gets his new 12-13M contract. Yes the big increase in cap will be coming at the same time but the other teams will benefit from that as well.
You know I'm a big fan of Sakic/CMac and they have done really good identifying good extra-value players but there is only so much cap to go around. I'm afraid Mikko's next contract will be a back-breaker. I trust those guys though so I will give them the benefit of the doubt until they show otherwise. I like what they did this year within the constraint they had. There are a few risky moves but I am confident they could pay-off.
Yeah the Avs will have very tough decisions to make in the near future if they want to keep trying to win. My preference would be to go for it this year but then next offseason to do a quick re-tool. You give up a chance at the cup for a year or two but you can probably compete for a few more years.It will be interesting to see how things play out. I tend to think they can pull it off, but there's still some uncertain variables that will play a big part.
Also worth pointing out Mikko still has the 6th highest cap hit at RW with his deal now while Nate has the highest at C. And they're still in a good spot.
I've started to believe they may have to lose Toews though. I used to think the choice was between Girard and Toews, but looking at 25-26 with a possible $92M cap, I'm starting to think the choice may be between Mikko and Toews. And Toews will be much easier to replace than Mikko.
They already have Byram who's built similarly and plays a similar cerebral two way style as Toews, and they've shown an ability to find good defenseman both in the draft and outside the organization, so there's a decent chance they can do it again if they need to.
I actually agree with this.Sometimes I feel like people constantly spew the "window is closing" stuff so much so that when the year comes and it finally happens (this won't be for a long time IMO) they can finally say "see! Told you! Window slammed shut!"
The window is open until Mikko goes to Montreal. Then shut.Sometimes I feel like people constantly spew the "window is closing" stuff so much so that when the year comes and it finally happens (this won't be for a long time IMO) they can finally say "see! Told you! Window slammed shut!"
Sometimes I feel like people constantly spew the "window is closing" stuff so much so that when the year comes and it finally happens (this won't be for a long time IMO) they can finally say "see! Told you! Window slammed shut!"
You're moving the goalposts to keep saying that you are right... You've spent the last 2-3 years saying the Avs had to go all in NOW because a Cup window is a short thing and the Avs window will close with Mac's contract.Avs will also win the next 6 Stanley cups and the All Star game format will be changed to Colorado vs the league...
At least, that's what you would believe from some posters here.
But not jokingly